Originally posted here by cross
for anyone looking at this thread that doesn't know linux very well:

You can Download free ISO's (cd images) of most distros of linux for free from most of the homepages of whatever flavor your looking at. They also offer it in stores as well for a price. There is no difference except documentation that comes with it. But all that documentation is online as well, so there is really no reason to buy except to contribute money to them....
Well, I would have to agree with your first statement. Lots of popular linux companies now offer business packages, their linux distro along with some special software which usually varies from distro to distro. For example, Suse offers a professional package, that comes with xtra software and some stuff to increase business productivity, but it isn't free and isn't downloadable. It is part of a special package that is quite expensive. There are also special CDs for the suse e-mail server, database server, web server, and a firewall. Those are all under -business solutions- on the suse site. Anyways, I just wanted to say, that professional packages and business packages are often different from what the company might be letting you download.